1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gaming machine having two image display devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in gaming machines, games to be played by means of symbol display have been performed. Specially, a plurality of symbols are displayed in a stopped manner after the symbols have been movably displayed during a predetermined period of time, and according to a combination of the plurality of symbols having displayed in a stopped manner, a predetermined prize is awarded to a winning player. The winning player repeatedly plays a unit game from movably display to display of the symbols in a stopped manner while expecting that such a prize will be obtained.
In the conventional gaming machines, in addition to the game played by such symbol display, a variety of rendering for attracting a player's interest have been performed. Among them, for example, there has been a gaming machine in which a main display device and a plurality of subsidiary display devices that are smaller in comparison with the main display device are provided. The plurality of subsidiary, display devices have been disposed to be distributed at a plurality of sites on a front face of a gaming machine. In other words, there has been a gaming machine in which a subsidiary control board is connected to each of the plurality of subsidiary display devices, a variety of image data that is stored in advance in a ROM or the like is read out under the control of a CPU of each of the subsidiary control board, and a variety of images can be displayed on each of the plurality of subsidiary display devices (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-220608).
Further, there has also been a gaming machine in which a subsidiary display device that is independent of a main display device is provided, and on the main display device, a game to be played by displaying symbols is performed, and a roulette game is performed on the subsidiary display device (for example, refer to European Patent Application Publication No. 1376498).
In the gaming machine described above, in which the main display device and the plurality of subsidiary display devices are provided, the plurality of subsidiary display devices have been disposed to be distributed at a plurality of sites on the front face of the gaming machine. Therefore, there has been a need to allocate spaces for disposing the plurality of subsidiary display devices on the front face or in the rear direction of the gaming machine. The plurality of subsidiary display devices are thus provided to be distributed from each other, and therefore, a player needs to see all of the subsidiary display devices in order to obtain desired items of information, and has been forced to significantly move his or her eye while playing a game. Accordingly, there has been a high possibility that the player fails to check out images that are displayed on the subsidiary display device and cannot recognize important information relating to a game.
In addition, there has been provided a subsidiary control board for individually controlling each of the plurality of subsidiary display devices described above; and therefore, a variety of rendering images can be displayed on each of the plurality of subsidiary display devices. However, there has also been a need to allocate spaces for providing these subsidiary control boards inside of the gaming machine. Further, the subsidiary control board has been connected to each of the plurality of subsidiary display devices; and therefore, an overall configuration of the gaming machines becomes complicated and there is a need to perform processing for synchronizing a screen to be displayed on each of the plurality of subsidiary display devices. In addition to the above configuration, processing to be executed on the subsidiary control board has also been forced to be complicated and cumbersome.
Further, in a gaming machine configured to play a roulette game on a subsidiary display device, a rendering that is exerted by the roulette game has been made with the use of the entirety on the front side of the subsidiary display device. While a roulette board can be increased and can be easily visually recognized, a region on the front face of the subsidiary display device has not been effectively utilized. Furthermore, there is provided a mechanism for mechanically driving a roulette game board; and therefore, there are a very small number of variations and the contents of the rendering is likely to be monotonous. Moreover, there is a high possibility that a failure occurs, and cumbersomeness or costs of maintenance or the like has been required.
The present invention has been made in view of the circumstance described above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a gaming machine that is capable of causing a player to smoothly move his or her eyes from a main game to rendering when the rendering is started; that is capable of allocating a space for disposing a display device employed for the sake of rendering without having an effect on a display device for performing a main game; and that is capable of effectively utilizing the allocated space.